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The FBI is opening another probe into Clinton Foundation donations

It’s the second time the bureau is looking into whether Hillary Clinton exchanged diplomatic favors for charitable contributions.

The Department of Justice is launching a new probe into the Clinton Foundation, run by Bill and Hillary Clinton, looking to find out whether Hillary Clinton ever exchanged diplomatic favors for charitable contributions to the Foundation while Clinton was secretary of state, according to various news reports.

The investigation, first reported by The Hill, is reportedly led by the local FBI office in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the Clinton Foundation has offices in the William J. Clinton Presidential Center. It’s not yet clear whether there are specific diplomatic actions under investigation.

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The opening of another inquiry into the Clintons will undoubtedly catch the attention of both Republicans and Democratic lawmakers. While Democrats have been outspoken in identifying investigations into the Clintons as politically motivated attacks on the part of a Republican administration against (former) political rivals, Republican lawmakers have loudly, and repeatedly, called for criminal inquiries into Hillary Clinton’s actions as Barack Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

Amid calls from Republicans to investigate the Clintons, Attorney General Jeff Sessions floated the idea of appointing a special prosecutor to conduct the investigation into the Clinton Foundation in November.

In a statement to VICE News, Clinton Foundation spokesman Craig Minassian said, “Time after time, the Clinton Foundation has been subjected to politically motivated allegations, and time after time these allegations have been proven false.”

This investigation is separate from the FBI’s 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for State Department activities, a major theme for Republicans during the 2016 presidential campaign.

But it’s not the first time the FBI has opened up the case into the Clinton Foundation’s potentially trading diplomatic favors for cash. The FBI was looking into the Clintons’ dealings as early as 2015, attempting to trace high-profile donations made to the charity, which the Bureau largely knew about based on news reports, to Hillary Clinton’s diplomatic dealings, according to the Washington Post.